Arthur Tregarthen Brokenshaw was born in 1885 at Fowey in Cornwall. He was educated at Fowey Grammar School and the Merchant Venturers Technical College, Bristol, where he trained as an electrical engineer. Brokenshaw entered the Indian Civil Service, after passing examinations at the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill, Surrey, specialising in telegraphs. He arrived in India in 1906 and began further training in Calcutta. During his career, Brokenshaw worked in the Lucknow sub-division, Ambala, Poona [Pune], Bombay [Mumbai], Lahore, Quetta, Agra, Shillong, and New Delhi, steadily working his way up the ranks to become Postmaster General of India. He married Margaret Ida Mary Hammes, known as Gretchen (1891-1970), in 1911. Brokenshaw retired in 1941, and split his time in retirement between South Africa and America, where two of his children had settled. His eldest son, Francis Tregarthen Brokenshaw ‘Brock’ (d. 2004), was an accomplished artist. He died in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1977.